Reclaim the Nite - 2009 in Suva

Last year too, SI Suva participated in 'Reclaim the Nite' march, photos are perfect to describe the atmosphere. Proud to be a woman!

Lots happening but no time to blog (On SI Fiji Region Meeting)

Photo 1: Training on 'Online Reporting'
Photo 2: Attentive Soroptimists in the training session
Photo 3: Six crazy women heading back to Suva


Lots happening but its a pity that I am not able to blog as frequently I would like to. One of the interesting day trip was a trip to Ba. SI Fiji Region had its region meeting on 25th July and we were six soroptimists from SI Suva who were going to attend the meeting. Suva is east of Viti Levu and Ba is North-West. We rented a car from Carpenter Motors and started our journey at 5.30a.m. Rosemary was the one to pick everyone up, so the poor soul started at 5.15a.m. and after picking up all the five women, we were off to Ba. I have been on Queens road several times with my family but this was different. Six professional and community oriented women (obviously we must have something in common, that is why we are soroptimists) left their homes early morning and each one of them so organised that we had no shortage of tea, coffee and milo! The trip was good, we talked and argued and laughed and panicked since we wanted to reach by 10.30 to start off the meeting at 11a.m. sharp. We reached on time. I conducted a training session on 'Online Reporting', our federation of South West Pacific has revamped the website and we now report all the projects online, this is something new so members need to be trained! We then had our region executive meeting followed by lunch and general meeting. We then drove back at 4.15p.m, this time I drove. We were tired and cranky but some of us wanted to stop to buy vegetables since we get fresh and cheap vegetables in west. By the time we reached Sigatoka, it seems we had lost our marbles and we had music blasting and women dancing inside the car!!! We had to reach before 10 otherwise we would have to pay another day's rental, so I was basically concentrating on making us reach in time as well as in one piece, this was a big ask considering there were lots of distraction such as dancing (I like to dance too!) and some classic jokes from these women who you would not even think could get this crazy!! Good fun ladies, I had a good time, another very good experience in Fiji for me!!!

The Lovo - Fijian Traditional Food

Lovo is a Fijian recipe that involves cooking meat, vegetables etc in cocnut milk and just salt to your taste and bake it on hot stones/ woodfire. At Pacific Harbour Village, they give a demonstration of Lovo preparation. I absolutely love 'lovo', it is one of my favourite foods along with palusami (a leafy vegetable cooked in coconut milk).
Some photos of lovo prepartion will demonstrate the procedure involved. Check bottom to top to get the order of cooking. Step 1 is preparing the pit while food in parcels on the table is ready to be cooked is at the bottom of this entry going to top it the last step 15 with empty pit.

My first bowl of Kava

Pacific Harbour is about 60 kms away from Suva, it has beautiful beaches and a commercial centre that preserves 'art and culture'. I had my first bowl of kava when we visited the 'Pacific Harbour Village' with Catherine in Nov 2008 at Pacific Harbour. The botanical name of kava is Piper methysticum, it is considered a social drink in the some of the Pacific Island nations, its given huge importance in Fiji. It gives you a feeling of numbness and you feel sleepy after drinking it. Traditionally, the roots of kava are mixed with water and the resulting solution is then drunk as kava. I had witnessed the ceremony before during my charity projects functions, however, did not get a chance to drink. Although this was a commercial scene. What the demonstrator mixed with water is the kava powder which is sold in market. Nevertheless, eperience of the drink would be nearly the same. So here I was, got a chance and grabbed it. I would like to have it again to understand and relish the drink properly.

Excerpts from National Fundraising Drive Events : Walkathon, Charity Gala Dinner and 'The Open Day and Fete'

We just finished the 10 week-long 'National Fundraising Drive'. It was a lot of hard work. I had three very hard working individuals in this team Hiroyuki Saito, Pauline Orikasa and Iris Freynhagen - Our Diversity became Our Strength! We had good times and bad but we throughly enjoyed the whole exercise. The satisfaction of helping the able students of the centre was enormous to keep us going even when the goinng was tough. It was very demanding for me especially with full time work and I had find time to cope up with the pressure of coordinating this project! Also the support from my husband and daughter was enormous as usual.

We had to reschedule the dates for the three events:

19th July: Walkathon

9th August: Charity Gala Dinner

5th September: Open Day and Fete

I shall place some of the photos shortly from the vaious events would very well describe the essence of the work put in as well as a good description of what happened! Below is the photo taken at the Charity Gala Dinner held at Holiday Inn Suva. The staff and management of Holiday Inn was supportive and forthcoming.

My current project: Coordinating Nationwide Fundraising Drive for FVTTCPD

After a successful fundrasing ' The Inaugral fete and Open day' that I coordinated last year in July, they approached me to coordinate a bigger one this year and the target is 100 grand! I have agreed to do it with certain set of rules laid down for all of us, had the first meeting with school last week. FVTTCPD now have another senior JICA volunteer, Hiroyuki Saito and one junior volunteer, they have come in place of Kinji, Miho and Saya. Saito's working style is quite similar to mine and so I think I will work well with him too. The basis of the fundraising is 'financial sustainability' of the centre. Keeping this in mind, we have identified 5 income generating projects in different sections of FVTTCPD, thus these 5 projects have become our reason to fundraise this year. We have an accountant who will ensure the tiny detail is taken care of and report will be audited. We have so far planned out three import dates:
27th June: Launch/ Opening of the Nationwide Fundraising Drive (NFD)
25th July: Corporate dinner (targeting major sponsors/ donors)
7th August: Closing of the NFD during the Fete & Open Day
It is going to be very demanding but its all for a very good cause and I am now all focussed towards it, all my free time is dedicated towards this project!

Activities as a Soroptimist in Fiji

I have always enjoyed soroptimist extension activities. During my time as the President of SI Lae, I other members of SI Lae in Papua New Guinea, I with three other members formed an extension team and worked very hard for 6 months to charter SI Port Moresby on 27th Nov. 2005. After coming to Fiji, a close soroptimist friend from Rakiraki mentioned similar possibilities in Lautoka during the time I was in Lautoka in dec. 2007 for 2 months. We then formed a team and started working towards it and we finally managed to charter SI Lautoka on 10th May 2008, thank you again to my daughter for her help with desk-top publishing during this exercise. It always gives me great pleasure to be a part of such activities. Some photos from SI Lautoka charter:

Another aspect we have worked on is publicising 'Soroptimist International' and its activities in Fiji. We have done very well since November last year and made sure media is aware of our activities and SI gets due publicity for its efforts towards helping women and girls all over the country and world. The recent charter ceremony was covered by all the three leading english newspapers in the country.

'Light Up Village' Project has finally become a reality

'Light Up Village' project that I was busy coordinating as an IWA (International Women's Association) member since August last year (2007) has finally become a reality. Three villages namely, Visoqo, Cawadevo and Nasovivi in Macuata Province have finally got light, thanks to funding provided by Canada Fund, GEF and International Women's Association. IWA supported Nasovivi village. It was a very good learning experince for me too, though Atul is a renewable energy expert and I do get a chance to learn things from him but doing a project gave me an opportunity to learn better. Atul and Jan were our energy experts for this project. Some pictures from these three villages.

Nasovivi village shown in the photo below:

Celebrated christmas and New Years Fiji-Pacific style in Fiji

We celebrated christmas and new Year Fiji- Pacific style this year. We did not travel overseas during this christmas since we have just moved to Fiji, and already done a lot of travelling this year plus some other committments. So, we decided to make the most during this festive season by celebrating it pacific way. We did not travel to any tourist crowded spots because then you don't get the true local feel. Instead we decided to just blend in.
While everyone was busy running away from Suva during christmas, we stayed put, and roamed around in town, watched movies, and chirstmas day had a buffet lunch at 'Raintree Lodge Resturant' which was just superb. Set in idyllic location, the resturant offers you the best of all the worlds be it food or ambience. I would recommend 'Raintree lodge' for a lazy sunday meal with jazz.

2nd Jan. 2008
Spent the 'New Years Eve' visiting 'Sigatoka Sand Dunes' near Sigatoka and clebrated New Years eve and New Years Breakfast at the 'Outriggers', both are a must visit while in Fiji. Sanddunes is Fiji's first national park and is looked after by 'National Trust of Fiji Islands', the staff is great and very friendly. Thank you to Suala Tavitani, Simon and Jason for showing us around! A walk along the wooden trail is a beautiful experience. Sigatoka Sand Dunes is a major archaelogical site, first significant clues to man's arrival in Fiji was found- a burial site in the eastern end of the park that dates his arrival to around 2,000 years ago. Also some of the potsherds are estimated to be 2,600 yrs old, finds of ceramic 'Lapita' provide an indication as to the origin of the sites former occupants, these people were the first settlers in this country. 'Outrigger' is one of the finest resorts in Fiji and we had a very good and relaxed time there on 31st dec. and 1st jan, again staff is wonderful and service excellent too. I would recommend half a day spent in Sand Dunes followed by overnight stay at Outriggers, wraps up the trip well. Will post pictures shortly.

We still miss Papua New Guinea

While we are having a good time in Fiji surrounded by natural beauty and lovely people, we still miss Papua New Guinea. People often ask me whats there in PNG, and they only have negative opinion on PNG. Agreed PNG has its fair share of problem but we had a good time there and enjoyed the place. I was working too thus very busy and quite satisfied.

In the last few months in PNG, I organised a charity trip to 'Salamua' , its an isthmus, it has a small but beautiful and pristine beach. WE managed to raise a good amount with this trip and everyone enjoyed the trip thoroughly. We hired the boat from Karen Quinn and Mike Quinn, they were very cooperative and forthcoming. Karen was enthusiastic about taking us to all the good spots! Pictures can speak more than words, so let me post a few photos:

The money raised through this trip went to the projects carried out by Soroptimist International of Lae (I was then, a member of SI Lae)

Diwali in Suva

Diwali in Suva brought back the memories from childhood. We left India in 87 and ever since we have not celebrated diwali the way we do it in India and finally we did it Indian way right here in Suva. I must have put on extra 5 kilos with all the the goodies that we have been enjoying for the whole of november.
The first diwali treat was the fundraising diwali dinner on 26th Oct. organized by 'International Women's Association', I was in the organizing committee and Ankita too helped us with the computer work as ususal. We managed to raise a good amount which will go towards the 'Light Up Village' project in Matainadoi, Vanua Levu; I am coordinating this project at IWA front and liaising with with the 'Macuata Women's Association'. Then followed Rotary Diwali dinner on 27th Oct, Atul is a rotarian and it was lovely. We then attended Fiji Hindu Association Diwali Dinner which was a fundraising activity on 3rd nov.
On 9th Nov., we invited a close Indian friend, with a few other friends from Netherlands, England, Kenya, China/ Japan and Canada while our daughter invited some 10-12 friends of hers. Ankita with her friends took charge of the barbequeue in the garden while I organized a typical Indian meal inside the house. The atmosphere in Suva was just incredible, I could not help going back to childhood memories. For our daughter, it was the first diwali in true sense , we did everything that one would do during diwali, we put ion all the efforts to make this diwali a memorable one for all our daughter especially as this was her first traditional one. We have celebrated diwali in Nairobi, Papua New Guinea and Australia too; but nothing like 'Diwali in Fiji'. Although, in Nairobi, one could buy fireworks and go to the designated areas in town to do the fireworks, in PNG we could hardly get any fireworks apart from sparklers, our daughter felt diwali more obvious in Australia as compared to Nairobi or PNG. But, one could not miss diwali in Fiji where you start hearing your neighbours doing fireworks 3-4 days prior to diwali and it con
Here in Fiji, we could easily do everything that one would do in India during diwali. So, we decided to celebrate it in a traditional way with a few exceptions.
Right from shopping to diwali preparations at home to the actual diwali night, we tried incorporate everything we could to keep it close to a traditional diwali.
It was the first time for our daughter to buy fireworks like we do in India and then do the fireworks in her own house at diwali night; made mithais; bought clay diyas in addition to electric fairy lights to light up the place at night; bought 'Ganesh-Laxmi' idol as well as a steel dish a day before diwali (which is a symbolic thing to do). So all in all, it was true diwali especially for our child!

Going is Good

I have just been busy with my charity work so could not post anything, there is plenty to write but the time.................... We had a very successful fudraising dinner on 21st september, we managed to meet our target and it was a good night. The dinner at Vineyard Palace was good for its value. I am hoping we will do the same for the diwali fundraising dinner on 26th oct for the 'Light Up' project. Two weeks back, we also said 'goodbye' to a friend, Kinji Ihara and his wife, Kiji was a Senior JICA volunteer with FVTTCPD and a very human being. Kinji and I bacame good friends as I took over coordinating 'Open Day and Fete' for the centre. It was sad to say goodbye to Kinji and his wife. Another newly made friend, Lydia Rowson who is from PNG and was in Suva with hubby and children left Suva to joing her hubby in Taiwan. Lydia too is a wonderful woman who expressed her willlingness to help out for open Day and we came good friends since then. Lydia was an IWA member too.We travelled to lautoka, the west of Viti Levu last month with a friend and he organised for all of us to visit 'Bounty Island' which was a beautiful trip. Will post some photos later. One thing I could say here for Fiji is that this is a country that has a beautiful blend of east and west. Bounty island is 30 mins boat ride from Lautoka , there are two more islands 'treasure' and 'beachcomber', we plan to go there again and do the three island trip all together once again. At the moment we are basically, just feeling the place around and will start visiting places properly again. Lautoka is the town known for sugarcane farming, the major export from Fiji. It is a small and cute looking town. All the sugar comes from here and the farmers are struggling at the moment, I just hope it will get better for the farmers.With Diwali round the corner, the whole of Suva is in festive mood, we will be celebrating Diwali properly after a long time nearly 9 yrs. In PNG, once I called ma in India to wish them 'Happy Diwali' and she told me it was yesterday, i just could not believe how we missed diwali (did not notice it on internet even, must have been very busy with work and other things), we were very few indians in Unitech so it was quite possible to miss. On the contrary, here we cannot miss a single small or big special occasion which has some importance, so I am basically making up for all the missed occassions.

Soroptimists and IWA members in Fiji

As we settle in suva, we are meeting more people and making more friends. Its a beautiful place with beautiful people.

IWA membership is thriving with members from more than 20 different nationalities. It is an excellent mix of members. Above is the photo that an Indian friend took at the IWA meeting last week. I have made many friends through IWA. It basically targets raising funds and giving the funds out to the needy organisations/ groups etc.

The photo below shows some of the Soroptimists of Fiji.

In the photo, I am standing with members from various SI clubs of Fiji. Seated in the middle wearing the 'chain of office' is the region President Saras Kewal and to her left is the SI National representative for Fiji, Vasewa Dakui and to her right is the UN Liason and Programme Convener, Suman Lata Lal. I met Soroptimists of Suva in July and then met the soroptimists from different towns in Fiji this saturday at the Region meeting held in Vineyard Palace (A Chinese resturant quite famous venue for fundraising dinners): Members present at the meeting represented Soroptimist International of Lautoka, Soroptimist International of Raki Raki, Soroptimist International of Labasa, Soroptimist International of Sigatoka and of course Soroptimist International of Suva. While I enjoy my association with 'International Women's Association', I remain Soroptimist at heart so much so that I did not want to accept any position in the committee in IWA because I want to save a major chunk of my energy and time for projects with SI of Fiji. The SI clubs in Fiji membership consists of all Fijians. It would be good to have some expatriates in the club, at the moment I am the only expat member and I intend to bring in more so that we can have an internationally diverse group. I have made some good friends here too.

The Soroptimist international is a service organisation and they do some wonderful projects all over the world and so do Soroptimists of Fiji besides fund-raising activites. And this is what I am looking forward to , to actually get involved with the local community and do some interesting and useful projects!

More on Suva

There is so much to see and do in Suva, we have hardly started. 2 weeks back we went to Sigatoka, its 2 hours drive from Suva. The drive is beautiful. We went with another family ( a dutch family), Atul was interested in seeing wind turbines, he is a renewable energy expert. The wind turbine set up is an intiative of French government. They spent more than 4 hours there. The group photo shows Raturi family with the Cloins.

On our way back, we stopped at Art Village in Pacific Harbour (45 minutes away from Suva, nearly half way between Suva and Sigatoka) for a drink. It was a day trip and we absoluetly loved it.

Photos from the first project that I coordinated in Fiji

Some photos from the first project that I coordinated in Fiji. The photos were taken by Ankita at the 'Inaugral Fete and Open Day' that I coordinated for the 'Fiji Vocational and Technical Training for Persons with Disabilities', it was a huge not only a huge success in terms of the funds raised but very popular among the students too.

The final meeting with the staff and some volunteers that helped me with the project.

Students dancing and enjoying themselves with the Japanese Ambassador to Fiji, Mr. Namekawa.

No function can be complete without kava ceremony. Kava is Piper methysiticum, the roots of kava are masticated and mashed further in water to squeeze out all the juice out of it, which is considered a social drink. Below is the photo that shows kava cermony being performed in the honour of chief guest Mr. Namekawa.

Mrs. Namekawa enjoying the day, standing with her in the photo are computer teacher, my friend (the chinese lady and a volunteer) and myself.

Final moments: anouncing the raffle prizes and standing with me are the Centre Manager, Sumasafu Vilisoni and Senior JICA Volunteer (who was on a 2 year attachment with the Centre), Kinji.

LIfe in Suva, Fiji

The very first day I went to FVTTCPD with the president of IWA and my daughter to talk to the centre manager, my daughter took some photos. I have uploaded some some of these photos here from 'Fiji Vocational and Technical Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities' (FVTTCPD) here for the readers to see what a brilliant group of people we have at FVTTCPD. They have a range of disabilities but there is no stopping for them and the work done by these students from the various sections is incredible. There are 11 different sections: cooking; sewing; offset printing and book binding; agriculture and horticulture; screen printing; art & craft; light metal works; sheltered workshop; computer centre and administration. If anyone would like to help the centre, please let me know and I can help you get in touch with them.

Life in Suva, Fiji is absolutely fantastic. If anyone gets a chance, one should not just miss it. Currently, I am busy with a fundraising dinner which is to support the 'Caregiver funds' for disabled people, I am once again with the same group of people coordinating this exercise. On the other hand, I am busy coordinating a project which is to light up a village called 'Matainadoi' in 'Vanua Levu', the appeal came from a group called 'Macuata Soqosoqo ni Marama'. Intially I was excited since it is a renewable energy project and thought we would get into the nitty gritty but realized we will be involved only to a certain extent. Nevermind, the idea of helping a village still makes me happy and satisfied. So we would be organising a fund raising dinner for this close to 'Diwali' (Hindu festival of lights). So the two exercise are keeping me busy for time being. There is lot to see and we are also getting around to do this slowly.

Iam asking all my friends and close ones to come and visit Fiji while we are here. So, we should soon be having friends/ relatives visiting us. I miss PNG every now and then, but this always happens. Right from childhood, I have moved so much and its always painful to leave friends behind. I have made some good friends here and we are still meeting more people. Its now been 3 months and we feel very much at home in Fiji!

Sorry to have taken up the web space and keeping it inactive

I feel bad for not having posted on my blog for over a year. A lot has happened since. I travelled to and fro Australia a lot due to personal reasons besides work and community service and that kept me extra busy. WE spent 9 good years in PNG and decided it was time to move on. With heavy hearts we bid farewell to PNG and moved to Suva, Fiji. I am absolutely in love with Fiji, beautiful country with beautiful and warm people.
We, after much thought decided that it was time to pack bags and move on to see a new place. So when Atul got this offer from Suva, Fiji, we decided to take it against all odds and now have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Fiji, as I said is a beautiful country and people are very friendly and warm, so we are very pleased that we decided to come here.
There is so much to see and do, we are overwhelmed! Its been 3 months since we came here, we left PNG on 18th May and arrived here on 20th May, still settling down. I resigned from my job to come here with Atul and not working here as yet. But I have kept myself very busy ever since we arrived here.
After a week in Suva, I started looking around for "Soroptimists of Suva' (there are five different Soroptimist International clubs) and different women's group that engage themselves in community work. I came across 'International Women's Association' and attended their meeting the second week, It is a nice mix of women who actively fund-raise and hand out money to different groups for some project work. In that meeting, the President announced that 'Fiji Vocational and Technical Training Centre for persons with Disabilities' (FVTTCPD)wanted IWA to look for a person who could help them coordinate their 'Open Day'. After the meeting, I asked the President if she could take me to this Centre since I was interested in fullfilling their request but before I commit I wanted to see for myself what it was like and whether it was worth it. I am very pleased that I went the IWA meeting because then I went to FVTTCPD and my heart fell out for them and I took up the challenge. I got four IWA members to assist me (they came forward and expressed their willingness for which I am so grateful to them) and all the section heads, JICA volunteers and centre manager himself. Because they wanted to use the exercise to fundraise too, I asked them to call it 'The Inaugural Fete and Open Day' and we set for the task, it was to be held on 27th July. My daughter once again helped us with flyers. She made 7 different flyers and each consists of image which is actually the work done in different sections. If you look at the 7 flyers carefully (I am attaching it here), each contains an image which is adapted from work done in different sections. It was a lot of work since I was very new to the country, I had to establish a rapport with the business houses with intention that they had to be convinced to donate, and I am very pleased we did it very well. Also the media coverage was there, the centre had a very good exposure during this time. It was a very successful event with Japanese Ambassador as the chief guest and students had a good time dancing with the Ambassador. To top it all, the centre made a handsome profit. This was a good 2 months effort.

Excerpts from Travel log

I will talk about some of my favourite holidays/ journeys after getting my husband and child. What is interesting about our trips is that we never took expensive holidays, we did our pre-holiday research very well such that for less money, we managed to do a lot of things. After all how much do the academics earn that we could afford expensive holiday! What we often do is that when we are due for holidays to India, instead of direct ticket we just add very little money and take ‘Round the world’ ticket. So just planning the holidays properly in terms of tickets, accommodation, tours etc., one can manage a decent holiday.

The best travel/ holiday any time would be our trips to Masaimara. One of our Mara trips involved camping and it was one of the most basic camping packages and the best trip so far! It was such a unique experience. The food was cooked in front of us on the woodfire and we could give a hand in cooking if we liked. And what was most interesting was when anyone needed to go to the loo, the ‘masais’ escorted you and they stood outside to keep a watch on animals! The best part were the game drives early in the morning and the ones at night. I still have in my mind some of the most unforgettable moments from Mara, some astounding shots that we took refresh our memories and give the urge to go back.

The city I admire the most outside India is Bath in UK. Our daughter was 10 years old and we were taking her to UK for the first time, so besides London, we all wanted to go to Bath mainly because we were keen to see Stonehenge. The bus journey from Heathrow to Bath is about one and a half hour, one of the most scenic rides. I find British country towns very interesting possibly because they bring my childhood novel-reading days to life. I used to imagine how these villages would be whenever I would read a book as a child. It was cold winter day and everything was dull and grey and yet the villages seemed beautiful. Our friend’s son, Simon’s fiancé Hanah, a tall English woman was there to pick us and took us to her house and enjoyed a typical British meal with wine. We stayed with her and Simon, they were one of the most hospitable couple I have come across. Next day, we first went round the city visiting the famous ‘baths’ and then drove to Stonehenge, again another scenic drive. We finally wrapped up the day watching a pantomime in one of the theatres there. I still wonder even years back how advance was the architecture in some parts of the world each time I visit palaces in India or England or Austria.

The next favourite in my list is Vienna. Atul was going for a conference and we decided that our daughter and I too would join him. So we set off for Vienna. Again we were traveling in winters, so it was dull and grey. The best things about Vienna are of course the palaces, the chocolates and the ‘punch’. They have this little kiosks all over that sell hot ‘punch’; both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The common base for both is fruit juice with various herbs. The moment you drink it, it gives warmth to your chest. You can buy the punch in a mug and pay a deposit for the mug so that if you decide to not return the mug, you have already paid for its cost. I brought one as a souvenir; the photo is attached here. I met Soroptimist in Vienna too. I met this British lady who had been in Vienna for past 17 years and was pleased to chat with me since I spoke English. I guess that was one thing she missed there, being able to communicate in English. Austrians prefer to speak in their language rather a foreign language, this is just an impression I got, I may be wrong! She spent a day with us, we went to Schronbrunn palace, and it is one of the most beautiful palaces that I have come across! I was very impressed with the honesty of the people there: I make this conclusion by observing their tube system. There is no ticket check anywhere and you are just meant to perform your duty of traveling with a ticket. And I gathered that obviously commuters must be doing that otherwise the tube system would not be economically viable. I have not seen so much trust in commuters anywhere else in the world whether it is New York, London, Sydney, Mumbai anywhere! The other thing which is unique are their cafés, where you are served tea/ coffee in most gorgeous porcelain by traditionally dressed waiters/ waitresses, the whole atmosphere is just incredible. This is when you realize the diversity in cultures round the world!
To be contd…………………………

A peek into my Travel Log

Some excerpts from my travel log……………..

When I look back and reminisce on our holidays, it is very difficult to pick the best but there are quite a few that still bring back happy and emotional memories. Traveling in India is fun. The chaos, the colours, deafening bollywood music, energetic people, cows, everyone has a right to live, very democratic, technology and economic boom, slums, the extremes and you have it all. India has such a great diversity in culture as you move from north to south or east to west. Its rich and vibrant culture has so much to offer. For now lets stick to my journeys in the past.

We (ma, pa and we three sisters) used to travel a lot by road in India too. We have covered stretches of India traveling by road. Pa while driving would love to listen to his three favourite singers: We three sisters. We would stop by the roadside ‘dhabas’ (restaurants) every few hours for a drink or so. I love the food in Indian highway dhabas, you CANNOT go wrong eating food from these dhabas because the travelers consume what they cook very fast. These dhabas are in great demands and I just love them. Each time I go to India, I make sure I eat from a dhaba at least once. Dhabas generally reflect the owner’s personality. The décor, music, food can tell you a lot about the owner.

I was 15 when we were traveling in Rajasthan (West of India) from Jaipur (popularly known as ‘Pink city’) to Udaipur (city of palaces), the two most beautiful and historically famous cities in Rajasthan. We started early in the morning which is what we always did. The ‘Grand Trunk’ highway is one of the best highways in India and I am told its being turned into something even grander. So for those who are thinking of traveling to India, it would be worthwhile experiencing driving on that highway with a flavour of typical Indian traffic, you would find authentically decorated trucks (again the décor on truck reflects the drivers personality). The journey from Jaipur to Udaipur was a day’s trip with lots of stopovers at various dhabas on the way, ma and pa loved stopping for tea and we would look forward to stopping for ‘Thums Up’ (Indian equivalent of ‘Coca Cola’, those days Indian govt. would not allow any imports and so we had an Indian reply to all the popular ‘item’!)/ or samosas, Indian snacks. The drive is scenic as you cross villages on the way. Rajasthani women wear elaborate jewelry that covers the whole hand, feet, face and neck and their beautiful heavily embroidered ‘lahangas’ (long skirts) are just gorgeous, and you could see authentic attires while traveling between any two towns in this region. This was one journey, which I wished would never end. I am now planning to do one with Ankita and Atul so that we can introduce Ankita to this unique culture in India.

The other one that I remember and feel a particular sense of attachment to was journey from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, North India) to Nagpur (Maharashtra, South-West India). It was a long journey and we drove for nearly 2 days and stopped to spend the night in Bhopal. Bhopal is the town in Madhya Pradesh (Central India) now unfortunately famous for the MIC leak case in the Union carbide factory. It was an eerie feeling that I got as we reached Bhopal, the memories of 1985 incident came back as shown on TV. Yet, everything seemed so normal. The next day as we set to drive out, I had very strange feeling which I can still recall and feel. I was doing my master’s in organic Chemistry, so I could relate to the incident and understand it very well. I just wondered how could something like that happen! And I still wonder!

To be continued……………..

Youth Hostels and my experience

I thought I would steer my blog a bit towards my global journey, so perhaps talk about my latest experience.
I recently got introduced to the youth hostels, became a member of 'Hostelling International' last year and have made good use of my membership ever since.
Until recently, whenever we travelled, we always stayed in hotels or motels that would suit our pockets but never did we think of youth hostels!
In dec-Jan, I went to UK to suss out the job market. Atul was in PNG, Ankita celebrating end of school in Australia and I was in dark and gloomy winter of UK trying to find out what is it like living in UK. So I was basically moving around, finding out about jobs vs cost of living. So this is where I got a chance to try out the Youth Hostel experience for the first time.
I was going for an interview to Cardiff, early this year in Jan. I was being given the accomodation for one night but since I did not want to take the chances of travelling in dark from Croydon to Cardiff and back, I decided to stay at YH in Cardiff. This was my first experience in a Youth Hostel, I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing but being adventurous I decided to give it a try. So I arrive Youth Hostel by the Heath Park, one of the best, I have visited so far.
For 17 GBP you get a clean bed and continental breakfast. The other facilities like shower, kitchen, TV lounge were all so spic and span, I could not believe it. And I met two lovely young women, one from Korea and another one from Spain and we soon got into some lovely conversations and exchanged views on places worth seeing, precautions one must take while travelling alone and finally exchanged emails too.
Then was the one in Bendigo (Victoria, Australia) where I felt it was a bit noisy and also not so clean.
The one in Ballarat (Victoria, Australia) is right on Soverign Hill, the view is beautiful and these are nice little appartments where you have about 16 beds in 4 rooms with a common kitchen and lounge/ dining area. This was good and I enjoyed being there.
The two that I find very practical are Melbourne YHA Metro and Sydney YHA Central. These are huge facilities with all kinds of options available and very close to all the facilities and right in the city centre. I met a lot of women from different parts of the world, Japan, UK, Australia, US, Korea etc. For some reason, I always bumped into a lot of Koreans throughout my YH experiences and they are lovely people to talk to.
What I liked about YHs is that its like a community, people generally exchange their travelling experiences, YHs also advise you on places once could visit with a small budget and the atomosphere is generally very cordial and lively.
I travelled a lot within the past six months for various reasons and so got to experience a range of YHs. I still remember my stay in YH Cardiff, the staff is friendly (I found Welsh are generally warm and friendly people), the facilities are good, just the whole package at YH Cardiff is terrific. I would not mind going there again and this time with my family, surely if we get another opportunity!
So yes, if you have not experienced youth hostels, I would say, you must. Just do a bit of research before you go because sometimes the experiences can be deifferent!